(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Justice Department’s Inspector General released a report this week, finding that a senior FBI official retaliated against bureau employees who cooperated in an IG investigation of the official.
“The OIG investigation found that the senior official engaged in retaliation, in violation of FBI policy, by making statements about suing employees who the senior official believed provided negative information about the senior official in the earlier OIG investigation, and about getting back at one employee for their prior OIG testimony,” Inspector General said Wednesday.
The IG investigation also found that the senior official engaged in unprofessional conduct by making those statements, by discussing with FBI employees the fact that they were being asked to provide testimony to the IG in that earlier investigation, and by seeking information about that testimony.
The IG report didn’t name the official or identify the previous investigation that led to the retaliation.
The FBI official reportedly agreed to be interviewed once about the matter, but then retired before he or she could be interviewed again. The IG has the power to compel interviews from active employees only.
The IG has provided its report to the FBI for “appropriate action.”
Retaliation over whistleblowing activities has been commonplace within the FBI for decades. Conservatives have been paying more attention to it due to top agents suppressing information about the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill investigation.
An anonymous FBI whistleblower went to Congress in June with allegations that FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate threatened anyone who disagreed with him on the matter.
According to the whistleblower, the FBI’s deputy director “told the audience that anyone who questions the FBI’s response or his decisions regarding the response to January 6th did not belong in the FBI and should find a different job.”
Abbate also told all special agents in charge that “if they had an employee that did not agree, the SACs could have that employee call [him] personally and he would set them straight.” Special agents in charge, or SACs, are the leaders of the respective FBI field offices around the country.
The whistleblower, a 15-year FBI veteran, said he had observed hundreds of teleconferences with senior FBI officials but had never “seen a direct threat like that any other time.”
More recently, the FBI raided the home of a whistleblower who claims that his bosses prevented him from investigating Rudy Giuliani.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
